#dude a large cast of characters who are in a fucked up situation involving being experimented on without realizing and cloning shit?
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Uh oh
#rat rambles#accidentally clicked on one of the journal logs in oni while I was looking for smth else and Im in the rabbit hole now#cause like why is this so me bait I knew this game had semi silly lore but I did not know it would actually tickle my brain like this#I already liked the concept of the duplacants on a basic level its just the sorta stuff I find fun but oghhhh#they arent just molds their molds based on once real ppl oh that is so fucked up I love it#Im not gonna go read through everything cause quite frankly I dont particularly care abt the worldbuilding I just like the scientists#for the record the first one I accidentally clicked on was the bubbles one and I audibly gasped when I realized its her#dude a large cast of characters who are in a fucked up situation involving being experimented on without realizing and cloning shit?#thats my favorite shit like thank god theres not actually that many journals cause otherwise it would be so jover#these dead scientists would become my orbo blorbos fr fr#like let me be clear the only thing standing between me and becoming the only person who has oni blorbos is that theres not more logs#if there were? you all would hate me#like I honestly could work with just this but will I?#....well knowing me I can deny the possibility but yknow I dont plan to#if the world interested me more then maybe but it doesnt so Im not quite itching to go ham on making shit up for 40 characters#alas in a situation like this where theyre all garaunteed doomed the worldbuilding rly matters to me and as such its not calling to ke#but I do love the concept behind the scientists sooooo fun thats my favorite shit right there
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Ignore the cringeworthy title, which brings to mind several lives’ worth of Lifetime movies — Pieces of a Woman, a portrait of personal disintegration and the from-the-ashes process of piecing things back together, gives you three distinct reasons to pay attention to this late-breaking entry in the seasonal Pretty People in Pain sweepstakes. (It hit theaters on December 30th for a qualifying run; it starts streaming on Netflix on January 7th.) The first is The Shot, a set piece that kickstarts the drama in motion. We’ve already briefly met Martha (Vanessa Kirby), an expectant mother days away from her due date. And we’ve been introduced to her partner Sean (Shia LaBeouf), a construction worker who’s building a bridge in Boston. She is warm, witty, nurturing; he is rough-hewn, earthy and, per his own description, boorish (“now there’s a Scrabble word,” he adds). Martha’s middle-class family, especially her brittle and controlling mother (Ellen Burstyn), doesn’t much care for this blue-collar dude, but the couple love each other. They’re ready to eagerly embrace parenthood.
So when Martha’s water breaks, Sean distracts her with dumb jokes — already with the dad humor! — and places a call to their midwife. The woman they’ve prepped with, who the two have trusted to guide them through a home birth, is unavailable. A substitute named Eva (Molly Parker) will be assisting them in her stead. She shows up, helps with what turns out to be a somewhat fraught delivery … and then things suddenly, inexplicably take a turn for the worse.
The fact that the Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó presents this entire sequence of events in what’s designed to resemble a continuous 24-minute shot sounds, on paper, like just another virtuoso move designed to induce a “how’d they do that?” shock and awe more characteristic of magic shows. Yet the director, making his English-language debut, isn’t indulging in hollow, look-ma-no-cuts showing off for its own sake; by letting viewers experience these wrong turns in real time, he’s both establishing your bond with these characters and letting his actors dictate the scene’s free fall from joy to tragedy. Cowritten by his longtime collaborator Kata Wéber, Pieces draws from her play of the same name (along with a very personal experience), and you can see the theatrical origins in this extended set-up. But that aspect works in the movie’s favor here. It’s not the fluid, snaking and craning camera that draws you in but Kirby’s animalistic grunts and cries, LaBeouf’s manic running around and tender encouragement, Parker’s authoritative earth-mother commandeering that slowly turn hesitant as the situation spirals out of everyone’s control. The “single” take is not the showcase itself so much as the stage for it.
Mundruczó’s breakthrough film, the 2014 Cannes prizewinner/canine-payback parable White God, proved he could meld feeling onto feats of incredible technical prowess — just try to direct an actual pack of 30 dogs to behave like an organized, vengeful army. Displaying your chops while also giving your performers room to do their best work, especially in a story that threatens to tiptoe into maudlin territory at any moment, is far more impressive then how much you can whip a Panaflex around. Not to mention that he’s marshaling a truly odd and unique cast: Name another drama that features LaBeouf, Burstyn, one of the Safdie brothers, Succession‘s Sarah Snook and stand-up comic Iliza Schlesinger in the same scene, much less the same movie. It’s a delicate balance, and this is where the second and third stand-out aspects enter the picture.
Everyone deals with the tragedy in their own way, from chilly disassociation to bad-habit relapses to furtive stabs at fucking the grief away. (To say that a sequence involving LaBeouf aggressively pursuing sex with Kirby before angrily storming away plays … incredibly uncomfortably in light of recent news is to put it mildly. There’s a fury in his work here that makes you feels like a voyeur, and not in a good way.) Martha’s mother chooses to pursue her catharsis by holding Eva accountable via legal means. Cue: The Monologue.
The matriarch has gathered the family together for dinner, in the hopes of, among other things, convincing Martha to go forward with a lawsuit. There is resistance. So Mom recounts the story of how sheer luck saved her as a baby, at which point Burstyn hand-delivers an elderly woman reopening a decades-old wound. There is so much kindness and sorrow, survivalist grit and a pleading sense of grace in the reading; Burstyn herself has said that she improvised part of the speech as the cameras were rolling. No one needs convincing that she’s a national treasure, yet to observe the veteran Oscar-winner elevating what could’ve been a clichéd exercise in pushing emotional pressure points is to observe the power of acting. It’s a showstopping turn in miniature, from someone with a career already bursting with them.
Pieces of a Woman largely belongs to the woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown at its center, however, and it’s Vanessa Kirby who gifts the film with The Performance. London theatergoers were lucky enough to catch the 32-year-old on stage, doing Shakespeare and Chekhov; the rest of us have been content to watch her flex as a clutch supporting player (The Crown) and action-movie femme fatale/hero (Mission: Impossible — Fallout, Hobbs & Shaw). But her profoundly traumatized Martha is something unique, a fully formed and in-focus picture of someone falling apart. She is a walking, talking, dead-eyed raw nerve, and after being partially responsible for the most realistic screen labors in recent memory, Kirby plays the bulk of her scenes in the key of shellshocked. It’s less a performance of repression than recession, as Martha keeps drawing back into herself or numbly shuffling through her interactions and routines. When she does occasionally lash out, it’s like the flailing gestures of a drowning person.
This is an extraordinary example of how to craft an empathetic take on psychic agony bit by bit, piece by piece, and without pandering for easy points. And it’s the sort of achievement that doubles as a coronation of Kirby as a first-rate actor, that next-gen star willing to crack herself open for a role. She’s a much-needed anchor here as well, notably when Weber’s script and Mundruczó’s conceptual choices veer off into shaky territory. There’s surely a way to express the ginger process of healing other than the heavy-handed visual metaphor of a bridge that, as we see the dates go by, slowly comes together as a solid structure; should you think you’re imagining some of those Biblical signifiers that pop up, an ambiguous Garden-of-Eden coda lets you know you’re not losing your mind. Not even Kirby can keep a late-act courtroom address from collapsing under its own weight.
But riding shotgun with her maternal phoenix makes up for a lot, and out of the trio of reasons to seek this work out, it’s the experience of shuffling miles in Martha’s blood-flecked boots that compels you to stay with it. So many movies deal with grief, anguish and personal reformation as little more than a chance for performative grandstanding. Pieces of a Woman has some of those moments, too. What’s fueling it, however, is a very real sense of what’s happens underneath all of the things we associate with melodrama — the tiny implosions beneath the surfaces. You merely see the impact instead of the demolition itself, but you see the damage done nonetheless. And when it’s all over, you see the hard work of someone succeeding in, hopefully, becoming whole again.
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“I think I may be falling in love with you.” Can we talk about what a conspicuously weird thing that was to say?
I mean, it’s obviously an attempt at manipulation, but to what end, exactly? Narek’s stated goal is to try and coax information about other androids out of Soji, and she presented him with a golden opportunity to present himself as a confidant, and he just didn’t capitalize on it. Like, dude. She asks you if you believe her, and you say yes. Obviously, you say yes, even if you don’t mean it, because you’re playing the part of the caring boyfriend who, of course, has no idea what’s going on here, but if Soji ever wants to talk about anything that is going on, ever wants to talk about anything else that happens to her that she doesn’t understand, of course you will listen. I feel like the game plan here should be for Narek to try to position himself as Soji’s trusted confidant, but again, he had a golden opportunity, and he used it to say something conspicuously weird and inappropriate for the conversation instead.
But then, Narek hasn’t really been behaving in ways that would encourage Soji to regard him as confidant, in general. And once she’s had more time to think about it, maybe she’s gonna be wondering if there isn’t something a bit off about her new boyfriend.
[More of my highly disorganized thoughts under the cut]
I predicted earlier my hope that Narek would join the good guys, and then immediately experienced the regret that comes when you make such a prediction when you’re not even halfway through the first season yet. Nowadays, I’m still hopeful, but more uncertain. I think that, for now, what keeps him at least somewhat sympathetic is his interactions with his sister.
(As a note, I had to look up her name, and got the name of her cover identity on earth—Narissa Rizzo. I’d be shocked if ‘Narissa’ is her actual name, but then again, who knows if Narek is his real name, so these are the names I’m going to use when talking about them, since I’ve got nothing better to go with.)
First, let me just say: it took Romulan makeup and dim lighting for me to recognize Peyton List, aka Poison Ivy Mark 3 from Gotham, and I’m not sure what that says about me. I hope she gives as engaging a performance as she did when playing Ivy.
Okay, when Narek tells Narissa that he’s not sure if Soji knows exactly what she is, and, if ignorant, should probably stay that way as long as possible, I was just like “….why?” Isn’t your stated goal to get information out of her about other androids, and won’t your very scary boss get mad at the both of you if you can’t get that information? How are you supposed to do that if she doesn’t even know she’s an android? Is it because the moment she finds out you’ve been playing her the whole time is the same moment she finds out she’s got enough raw strength to oh, say, snap your neck like a twig? Is it because of the implications from this episode that Soji might be some kind of apocalypse maiden and you’d like to avoid doing anything that could trigger the apocalypse? Or is there another reason you’d like to share with the class?
On another note, I wonder if either Soji or Narek have thought to use any kind of birth control. Because literally the only way this situation could get even more fucked up would be if it turns out Soji can get pregnant and then does. Just imagine the first brother-sister back alley rendezvous after the pregnancy test. God, what a conversation that would be.
Anyways, from a writing standpoint, I can’t help but think that it means something, the way Narek and Narissa play off of each other. Because he opens with making nasty digs regarding her ears which, considering that probably involved cosmetic surgery which could have been quite painful to recover from, is, yeah, pretty nasty. But then she escalates it so much. First, in Episode 2, she makes it very clear that while she is interested in preserving his safety, if it comes down to saving his life or her own, she’ll throw him under the bus in a heartbeat. And then, in Episode 3, when discussing the state of affairs between Narek and Soji, she behaves a lot less like an impatient sibling than she does a jealous lover, and proceeds to get really creepy. (Someone please tell me I’m not the only one who got incestuous vibes from their back alley conversation. Please tell me I’m not the only one who got those vibes; I don’t rightly know how else I’m supposed to interpret the sniffing.) Seriously, I don’t think you’re winning any contests if you guess who comes off more sympathetically after their conversations, but at present, I’m not sure what it means that Narek has been portrayed more sympathetically than Narissa in both of their talks. We’re definitely meant to think that Narissa is the bigger fish in the pond, but beyond that, I’m really not certain.
(Another thing that interests me about them is how they’ve both thus far been rather ineffectual. The goal was to get information, and neither of them have succeeded yet. I thought about the contrast at first as being light touch vs. sledgehammer, and I think that still holds, but there’s another one I can think of: the fairly soft-spoken manipulator who doesn’t seem to know how to parlay manipulation into actual results vs. the violent loose cannon whose impatience got her target killed before she could get any useful information out of her. It’s too early to tell what it means that they’ve been ineffectual thus far, whether it means that they’re going to step up their game later on, or if they’re just not very good at their jobs, and are going to go on being not very good at their jobs. Both are equally possible.)
Similarly, from a writing standpoint, I can’t help but think that it means something that Narek was present and watching as Soji comforted the newly ex-Borg drone in Episode 2. But at present, it’s too early to say just what it means, if it means anything at all. What I think is that it would be very difficult for Narek not to develop some sort of empathy for Soji, whether he means to or not, but I’m not sure how much that would mean, either. When the time comes, I’m not certain whether or not it will be enough to change anything.
And with all of this is the elephant in the room, that the last live-action fiction show I watched while it was airing was Gotham. As anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows, I was largely… quite disappointed with Gotham as a show. Good cast, but everything else was a flaming train wreck. Gotham was a show where the most fucked up thing that could happen had a decent chance of actually happening. Gotham was also a show where many other things I thought had to mean something later turned out to be sound and fury, signifying nothing. That casts a shadow over my perceptions of Picard, and given how many other disappointments I’ve had with TV shows and movies and manga and comics, my operating method these days is to just not get my hopes up too much. If I prepare myself for disappointment, I can be pleasantly surprised if I’m not disappointed, but if I am disappointed, at least I won’t be gutted again.
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Now to talk about something I am more optimistic about, even if I know no more about it than I do what I just talked about: what role Soji has to play in this story.
I’m actually most interested in Soji of anyone in this show, though I will likely talk less about her since I’ve found less to be anxious about. I’m very curious to see how she’ll cope with the revelation that she’s an android, since she’s all but certain to discover it in circumstances just as unhappy as Dahj’s discovery. I’d also like to see how she reacts to news of Dahj’s death, and get information on what their relationship was like.
I’m also eager to learn what the hell is up with the Zhat Vash’s fear and loathing of androids in general, and Soji and Dahj in particular. The agent interrogated in Picard’s house calls one of the two sisters ‘destroyer’, Rhonda (the ex-Borg drone and expert on Romulan mythology Soji interviewed; at least, I think that’s her name) associates Soji and/or Dahj with some sort of malevolent figure from mythology—I mean, if Soji’s presence is enough to trigger a suicide attempt, it’s likely Rhonda doesn’t regard her as a particularly benevolent figure. (Though this comes with the caveat that seeing as the mythological figures came in a sister pair, one who lived and one who died, it’s possible that there’s some sort of benevolent/malevolent dichotomy going on.) Are they just projecting their own fears onto Soji and Dahj, or is there something else to this?
Furthermore, I’d love to know what has drawn Soji to the Borg in the first place, because biologically, she’s only roughly three years old and wouldn’t have had a lot of time to develop this interest naturally, and, well, I don’t think it’s a coincidence, story-wise, that she is where she is, doing what she’s doing for work.
And then there’s Bruce Maddox. Considering there was an episode later down the line in TNG where Data exchanges letters with him, I had assumed he’d experienced character development since his appearance in ‘The Measure of a Man,’ and it would seem I was right. (Oh, and fun fact? In ‘Data’s Day’, the episode I referenced in the beginning of the preceding sentence, there was featured a Romulan who had been posing as a Federation ambassador for years.) But I do wonder for what purpose he created Soji and Dahj. It’s possible that he simply created them to be his children, that he created them for the sake of creating them. But I wonder about that, honestly.
Episode 3 raises the serious possibility that Soji and Dahj’s ‘mother’ is a hologram, or some other kind of artificial intelligence. While it’s possible for their ‘mother’ to be a hologram without there being anything more to their creation than just being created for their own sake, the fact that the purported ‘mother’ responds to Soji’s questions about whether she’s heard from Dahj with blatant lies doesn’t really gel with that. If there is anything at all to the Zhat Vash’s fears regarding Soji and Dahj besides projection and paranoia, then how does Maddox play into that?
Anyways, it’s only been three episodes and I probably shouldn’t try to form any concrete opinions on how things are going to go yet, but I’m very interested in seeing how things go.
#Star Trek: Picard#Meta#(Basically me talking about how I have no idea what's happening)#Soji Asha#Narek#Narissa#(or whatever her actual name is)#Bruce Maddox
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Teen Wolf mpreg fic recs (99% Sterek, 1% Steter)
I know that you love me, even when I lose my head by LunaCanisLupus 22 E, 136k, Complete. “We’re not mates, Cora,” he insists. “I mean look at him-“ // “Ouch,” the kid says, no longer pushing that shit eating grin. // “He’s- he’s,” Derek tries, at a loss of how to explain why this can’t be possible. Why it shouldn’t be possible. // Or the one where Derek gets attacked by hunters, ends up with amnesia and forgets Stiles is his mate.
Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Stiles, Alpha Derek, but Stiles is a BAMF, BAMF Stiles, presumably Actual Derek is also a bamf, but College Derek is pretty useless, Heh heh
Wow, this story just grabbed me and didn't let me go and now it's the end of a full day and I have no excuse for abandoning everything except that I was really involved and enjoying the plot. // Stiles is such a fucking badass, I love this, he's super-smart and strategizes and handles everything that comes up like a pro and it's totally easy to see why they have such a large and powerful pack. 'College Derek', meanwhile, is a complete sexist asshole (with the whole Alpha/omega thing) who says some super hurtful things in the first half out of sheer ignorance mostly -- although occasionally it's spite. Stiles handles it as well as he can, trying to hide that it hurts and striking back because he has backbone for god's sake... but his bondmark is slowly fading and that's terrifying and tragic. // Meanwhile, the Silva pack is due to arrive with some manifest bad intentions, and Peter is lurking around stirring up trouble, and it's a really fucking bad time for Derek to not remember who he is, because it makes their pack vulnerable. // Great story.
The Lighthouse Keeper by tugela54 E, 75k, Complete. On a rural island just off Alaska’s northern Inside Passage, stands a centuries old lighthouse - the perfect sanctuary for its keeper to hide when the moon is full, to burn and rage through its cycle with the townsfolk being none the wiser. // But then a new resident comes to Beacon Harbour – a bright-eyed young student chasing an elusive whale species – and all of a sudden those thick stone walls seem paper thin…
Bottom Stiles, Like Whoa,
Whoa, that was an intense climax, I'm kinda breathless. Great story. Stiles is earnest and funny (and sooo hot for the giant, hairy, handsome man -- when author says size difference they are not messing around and it's mentioned frequently) and Derek is monosyllabic and awkward. They figure it out eventually, and there is hot sex (did I say size difference and hirsuteness?). Laura's a great werewolf-sister (Derek is the only werewolf) and her son Seth is a cutie. The cast of characters (Chris, Jordon, Finstock, Angus, Gladys and the two First People Miriam and Jonah) are interesting and fleshed-out. Love the plot, and the take on Derek's werewolf (not Teen Wolf style), love the First People lore and rituals, love the setting waaay up in Alaska on this tiny island. // (Don't let Major Character Death tag scare you, you're gonna be just fine.)
Hey Lover, I Got a Sugarcane by pibroch (littleblackdog) Steter, E, 17k, Complete. [References to Mpreg rather than straight-up #mpreg] “Put Peter on the phone,” Stiles says, too sharp to be polite. // “What?” Derek sounds completely thrown. “Stiles, I don’t think— Okay, you’re obviously not understanding what’s happening here. Peter isn’t talking. He’s basically just growling at this point, and he’s rounding on anyone that gets too close. He actually bit me when I tried to take back my pillow. I nearly lost a thumb.” // “Derek.” The reality of this shitshow of a situation is finally kicking in, undeniably, and Stiles needs to hear Peter’s voice. “Just trust the omega, okay? Tell him it’s me, and give him the damn phone.” // ---"Wrangling Rut-Drunk Alpha Boyfriends 101" by Stiles Stilinski, omega and responsible adult person.
I've loved other things I've read by this author
Delicious. And also funny.
I've Got A Sure Thing by skoosiepants T, 11k, Complete. Stiles's water breaks ten miles outside of Beacon Hills.
Fox Stiles, Werefox Stiles, Daddy Stiles
Precious: I love the style, it tumbles and tumbles over itself. Stiles is himself. Derek keeps hanging around, and he loves little Princess Leia. Cora keeps laughing at them. Stiles might be a little confused.
******
He calls Derek and says, “I think your entire family is here, dude,” and Derek roars, “What?” and, “Don't call me dude, “ and, “Fuck, I'll be right over.”
Derek shows up in his EMT uniform and with his partner Boyd, stoic and amused, and the wild look in Derek's eyes is probably as close to a panic as Stiles will ever see him in.
Derek says, “Oh my god, Laura,” and grabs for Prin just as Prin launches herself out of Laura's arms toward him. He swings her up in a practiced movement and settles her on his hip and Laura grins so wide her fangs are showing.
“The pack wanted to meet her, even Mom's here,” she says, gesturing toward a big black wolf that looks almost exactly like Derek in wolf form – the wolf lifts her head and sneezes at them, then goes back to nosing through Stiles's DVD collection.
“Mom,” Derek says, and holds Prin up so she hides his face. Prin tugs at his hair and knees him in the eye and giggles when he shoves her up so her tummy is balanced on the top of his head, it's so cute Stiles can hardly stand it, his life is insane.
“Okay,” Stiles says, clapping his hands together, “I'll make tea.”
I don't think that means what you think it means by ThroughTheTulips M, 21k, 7 works, Complete. Ever notice how aliens have mostly similar customs to humans in Stargate? There never seem to be words or concepts that just don't translate. For the most part that makes sense given how they were spread deliberately across the universe, but there should be more weird stuff. // So I made some. This is very fluffy and ridiculous. Enjoy.
I simply can't with this. What an unanticipated, hysterical delight.
I Know Where Babies Come From, Derek by DiscontentedWinter E, 52k, Complete (series is 132k of deliciousness) [Implied Mpreg, rather than actual #mpreg]. Stiles finds a baby on the porch. // It looks exactly like him. // Well, this is awkward.
Favorite, read again, still a favorite
Funny and unique and gripping (and there's one part that's simply fucking heartbreaking, god every.time. I bawl like a baby). I love this so much. It's totally one of my return-again-and-again-comfort-fics (even though there's very little that's slow-paced and domestic about it).
monday i can fall apart but by friday i'm in love by tryslora M, 6k, Complete. It's just past five in the morning and Stiles is barely awake, wearing only sleep pants that hang low below his pregnant belly, and he can't get the damned brand new jar of decaf coffee open. But he has a neighbor, and he's too tired to think that waking someone else up at this hour might not be the best (or politest) of ideas.
Alpha Derek, Omega Stiles, Caretaking,
lol. short and funny and sweet and Alpha!Derek is a caretaker (and pregnant omega!Stiles is a sass-spewing dork)
finger on the trigger and all fired up by tryslora E, 6k, Complete [Implied Potential Mpreg rather than #mpreg]. Derek goes undercover to expose a drug trafficking ring running inside of a porn studio. What he finds is Stiles.
Hot and funny.
I'm Not Immune by moodwriter E, 24k, Complete. “Did they inject anything into you? You can hold me back. You can stop me. I can’t stop you.” Stiles is in full blown panic mode now. // The one where Stiles and Derek get kidnapped, and sex needs to happen for reasons.
Great story, grows as it's written. Follows a lot of emotional development, tangled in the godawfulfucking situation they're trapped in.
Fire, Fury, and Flame by IAmAVeronica E, 125k, Complete. Stiles Stilinski was never going to be the omega who got knocked up right after high school, and then he's accidentally artificially inseminated with a stranger's sperm. // Awesome. // And the father of Stiles's baby just so happens to be Derek Hale. Half-feral, quite possibly a murderer, and pursued by a gleefully sadistic band of hunters who are only too eager to use Stiles and his baby to hit Derek right where it hurts. // Joy.
Omega Stiles, Alpha Derek, Mpreg, Kidnapping, Stalking, cultural ramifications of a/b/o
So, Stiles, the omega-rights activist who never wants anything to do with an Alpha and wants to avoid any of that biological imperative bullshit, winds up pregnant a la Jane the Virgin. BUT. Derek is unwilling to commit, or even to have Stiles tell anyone who the baby-Daddy is. This could be because a complete psychopath has him in her targets.
Kate is one fuck-scary villain, just, crazy as a bag of cats and vicious with it, and the filth that comes out of her mouth is truly chilling.
Stiles gets kidnapped pretty early on, which is frightening enough, and then she's back for another try. At that point, he's kidnapped again, this time by Derek, who whisks him across the country to the Preserve, a werewolf compound in Maine. Here, Stiles is the only human, pregnant and vulnerable and trying to make a temporary life until the baby is born. But will it only be temporary?
There's love, sociopolitical musings, lots of angst, lots of danger. The baby is born about 3/4 of the way through the story, and then Kate comes around to terrorize everyone again. Even though Derek and Stiles are living in a house that's reinforced with bars and a panic room, she still manages to nearly burn Stiles and the baby…
Rescue Me (& Take Me In Your Arms) by tumtatumtum E, 34k, Complete (series is 37k so far). Just when Stiles is starting to reach panic-attack levels of stress, a leather jacket and firm thigh are pressed right up next to him, and an arm is casually thrown over his shoulder. Stiles looks up to thank this kind person who is saving his life, and suddenly forgets what air is. // Because HOT. DAMN. Call the police and the fire-man, this guy is smoking. // Or the AU where Derek helps save Stiles from an ex, and a steamy BDSM relationship ensues- with feelings all over the place.
Fake/Pretend Relationship, Sub Stiles, Dom Derek
Whoooaa, Nellie. Strap in for a ride, folks. Hot and also hilarious, which is a difficult combo to achieve. Loads of D/s sexy times. Stiles is precious. Derek is possessive and a wee bit insecure. They're awful fun to watch together. ***The one where Stiles is Alpha Mate which magically means he starts leaking slick outta his ass, even tho he's human.
*******
[Kept trying to find this fic using key words bar and boyfriend and ex-boyfriend... which finally got me there. It's SO worth a re-read or ten.] I also tagged it with fake/pretend relationships, since it's fake for about the first 5 minutes, until Derek puts his hand on the back of Stiles' neck and Stiles moans and MELTS and lo, romantic and sexual interest is born.)
It's a mad, mad world by ElisAttack E, 74k, Complete [No #mpreg] "They call him the Feral Wolf." The man laughs hysterically as Stiles backs away from him, fear coursing through his veins. "Feral Hale. Do you know why? Huh?" The man creeps closer, testing the restraint of his chains, white talcum falling from his skin, swirling in the air like the dust devils plaguing the wasteland. "Because he's fucking mad." // Or the one where Stiles is a prisoner looking to return home, but to do so, he may have to rely on a questionable drifter.
Really enjoyed this. Very interesting take on alpha/omega, haven't seen it before. And yay for apocalyptic mad max-type world. Scary as fuck.
a little advice for aspiring fires by The Byger (Byacolate) E, 42k, Complete. Regardless of his sadly lacking social circle, Stiles was going to have to get some physical contact or he was going to explode. Seriously. It’d be messy and Derek would probably become even more emotionally constipated having to clean up little bits of Stiles from his pristine walls and furniture.
Touch-Starved, Skin Hunger, Omega Stiles, Sassy Stiles, stiles talks CONSTANTLY, Mpreg, Kidfic
But We're Still Sleeping Like We're Lovers by CharWright5 E, 110k, Complete [No #mpreg]. There are several things Stiles Stilinski knows to be facts: he's a werecoyote like his parents; his twin sister Malia could use a filter more than him; he's an Omega and terrified of his upcoming heat; and Derek Hale-McCall will never see him as anything more than his kid brother's best friend. Doesn't stop Stiles from asking the Alpha to help him during his heat. Or from developing some serious feelings that go beyond the bedroom. Basically, he's totally screwed, in more ways than one.
Fox Stiles, Creature Stiles, he's not a fox, but when I'm cruising that tag, I'll like to read this story
Idiot boys. Hot sex. More idiot boys. Angst. Fluff.
Jurisdiction by elisera M, 7k, Complete (series complete at 20k). John is a pretty level-headed guy. He wasn’t always, back during his own Sturm und Drang period, but he married a firecracker of a woman and got a kid with an affinity for trouble like he got payed for ending up in it, so someone had to level out or they would’ve ended up living in a treehouse or Lapland doing god knows what. Anyway, getting a hold of his temper is one of John’s better life achievements. It makes him a good sheriff and it kept him from blowing his lid too badly those last two years when Stiles started acting out in a way that John had never seen before. // But the temper is still there. // He’s reminded of it when he comes home on a random Saturday in March after spilling his milkshake all over his uniform shirt only to notice he didn’t have a spare in the station and finds Stiles bend over the kitchen sink with hunched shoulders.
Papa Stilinski is a total badass and mmm mmmm mmmm, so is Derek. Stiles has got some awesome muscle looking out for his best interests.
Into Something New by marguerite_26 E, 9k, Complete. [Implied Mpreg rather than #mpreg]. Something is happening to Stiles. He’s losing time. Something is messing with his head, with his body. Maybe if he felt better he’d think to be worried.
Nowhere Man by 1lostone E, 76k, Complete. [Mpreg (off screen)] When Stiles leaves Beacon Hills, he does it without a backwards glance. For two years he is happy on the other side of the country- until someone targets not only him, but his daughter. // Unfortunately, the asshole bodyguard his dad hired to make sure he gets back home is none other than Derek Hale. And that's really not very good for either of them.
1lostone is, as always, the goddess of the lengthy, painful, disturbing, angsty, violent, sexy story. God, I love it.
The Second Coming (of Werewolf Jesus) by lupinus, uraneia E, 40k, Complete. Stiles was enjoying his senior year until his crazy English teacher decided he made the best candidate to gestate Derek's kid. Now Stiles is a seventeen-year-old pregnant dude and he and Derek have to figure their shit out, because in nine months they are going to be tied together for the rest of their lives.
Sweet: very fluffy and domestic.
Pride and Place by DarkAthena (seraphim_grace) E, 63k, Complete. (Part of series A/B/O bodice rippers) [Mpreg, Discussion of mpreg, no men were pregnant in the making of this fic]. Derek Hale, Earl of Osterbrook, has inherited, following the death of Lord Montfort, a run down house in Yorkshire he neither needs nor wants, convinced his staff are robbing him, and with the mystery of a missing ward, he manages to get himself talked into a ridiculous bet, that he cannot pass as a steward until Midwinter, nearly two months away. So can he maintain the charade? Find the missing child? and manage to turn the shambles of a house around, or will he give up and let Peter take the thousand pounds he bet. // now with explicit epilogue - the rest of the story is teen rated though, so if you don't like the idea of explicit sex in your bodice rippers - just don't read that bit.
Great story.
The Well of Living Waters by kalpurna E, 30k, Complete. King Derek takes a consort.
Within His Power by NoBezel E, 69k, Complete. [Discussion of mpreg] Derek is a wolfish cyborg, brother of the Governor of California, heir to the Hale fortune. Stiles is a un-sequenced human in a world of designer DNA. When Derek is forced to choose a mate, no one expects him to choose Stiles. To be fair, Derek doesn't expect him to say no.
Pretty fucking phenomenal. Lots of world-building and political intrigue. If you're in it for the tropes, you'll be disappointed, but otherwise it's intense and dense and lovely.
The Threat of Human Sacrifice by vampireisthenewblack E, 45k, Complete. The sheriff bought a crib and made Derek help him put it together. Stiles thought of Hemingway and the shortest, most heartbreaking story ever told, and dismantled it on his own while Derek was out. // [The one where Stiles getting knocked up is the least of his worries.]
So excellent and intense.
The Honey and the Sting by the_ragnarok M, 19k, Complete (series still wip) Derek didn't remember what happened when he went into heat. He could only assume the worst. The truth may be stranger than that.
Beautiful.
Tiny Houses by ohmyjetsabel E, 77k, Complete. "So this is what Stiles does. He lies in Scott’s bed and waits for Melissa to say she’s found someone to get it out of him, to cure him of the wrongness and the bad, and he dreams. // God, he dreams. // He dreams of fire and swollen bellies and that scene in Alien, of giving birth to jackals through his urethra, the whole horrific nine yards. His head is a terrible place to be, he can’t imagine his stomach is much better, why anyone would want to put a thing inside of it."
Fuck.
Shifts by gryvon E, 15k, Complete. Stiles has what he's always secretly wanted - he's in a relationship with Derek and he's one of Derek's betas - but all that gets turned upside down when Gerard kidnaps him and his unexpected baby.
Who doesn't want Stiles having emotionally confusing sex with Derek, getting knocked up unbeknownst to either of them, and then kidnapped for the future baby? I mean, really. It's classic.
A Mating Moon by unpossible E, 37k, Complete. (Series 55k so far.) [this is not mpreg, just to be clear] “Hey, Scott, so, I uh, there’s this amazingly hot guy and I’m uh, gonna spend the weekend with him but, you know, just to be careful, I’m sending you his picture, so if by some terrible chance my bloated corpse shows up sometime Monday, just, y’know pass this along to the authorities.” He pauses. “Uh. Kidding?” and then hangs up with a rush of air. // “That is the worst voicemail in the history of voicemails,” Derek says.
fucking fantastic
(Once in a) Blue Moon by clarkoholic, skywardsmiles E, 60k, Complete. (Series 63k so far.) Stiles and Derek are getting along, but they’re not a family, and they’re sure as hell not mates. Christ, they’re basically just two stupid guys who happened to get pregnant because of a full moon and sheer dumb luck.
Oh, the angst, the pining, the guilt, the blame, the anger. Total pain-fest while we watch Stiles nearly die from the burden of the pregnancy. Lovely sweet ending, of course.
Tried and Tested Series by dancinbutterfly E, 53k, 12 works, Complete. In which Derek has a sex emergency with unplanned results, Stiles could be the baby daddy on one of those horrible MTV pregnancy shows, Sheriff Stilinski takes in strays and life in Beacon Hills never has a dull moment, not even when things are calm.
Really wonderful series. Stopped at Part 11, so am waiting for updates. A good investment of time, even incomplete. ;D // [Huh, evidently I missed an update somewhere along the line!]
In the Solstice of our Hearts by ravingrevolution E, 73k, Complete. "You're not putting that up your butt," Scott told him flatly and Stiles couldn't stop the pissed off whine he made, but his friend continued. "Stiles, you can't put that up your butt, you know that. Your butt won't be ready for anything to go in it until-" // "Okay, okay!" he said, flailing his hands to stop his friend's lecture. "Message received, no butt stuff until I'm pounced on by some freaking animal in the forest and ravished to within an inch of my life. Got it. Thanks, Scotty, I mean heaven forbid I actually try to take control of my life and give myself a fighting chance or anything." // "Not all alphas are animals," Scott said quietly. // Maybe he was right, but Stiles wasn't holding his breath.
Omega Stiles, Berserk Stiles, omega beast, everyone's a virgin, Hurt/Comfort, care taking
The one where there's a Mate Run in the woods, and Derek with his pack manage to frighten Stiles up a tree from whence he falls and is impaled on a branch (ouch!) and then they spend a week in a cave while Stiles heals. Meanwhile, Kate and her cronies are sneaking into the month-long Mate Run with the intent to a)finally kill Derek and b) sneakily bond with some omegas. So Stiles goes berserk, which is the omega form of a hulking violence monster, to protect Derek. (Story could have stopped there, but carries on for another 1/3.)
#mpreg#mpreg fic rec#mpreg stiles#mpreg sterek#mpreg fic recs#mojo's fic recs#christyimnot#christyimnotred
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Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe
This is another treasure from the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, and unlike some movies I have acquired thus (Samson vs the Vampire Women comes to mind) it was actually worth spending a buck on. It’s bizarre and hilarious and put me in mind of MST3K even before it became a Rifftrack – and the Rifftrack is great. It gets off to a very strong start with Mike laughing out loud and going, “no seriously, what’s the real title?”
Abraxas is a Finder, one of ‘the cops of the universe’. His partner Secudus has gone rogue and is out to create a being called the Comator, who will solve the Anti-Life Equation. What does that mean? I have no fucking idea but it’s definitely bad, so Abraxas is sent to stop him. Secundus is eventually captured, but not before he impregnates a woman named Sonya, who promptly (and I do mean promptly) gives birth to her son Tommy. Abraxas is ordered to kill Sonya and Tommy both, but spares them – which just means that six years later, Secundus can escape from prison again and returns to Earth to claim his son. This is all set to music that sounds like a Kenny G. Christmas album.
This entire movie is just one big what. You can usually tell what they’re going for but the execution is always weird, starting with the title. Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe sounds like a shitty 80’s cartoon created to advertise a line of cheap action figures. What the film actually is, is a ripoff of Terminator II: Judgment Day, and nobody much bothers to try to hide that. There’s a precocious little boy with a very important destiny, his independent and protective mother, and two equally threatening burly dudes, one of whom is trying to kill him and one of whom is trying to protect him. A family dynamic forms between good Burly Dude and the mother and son, while bad Burly Dude pursues them implacably until the final showdown between good and evil.
Because the makers of Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe couldn’t afford to be sued by James Cameron, they have of course made a number of changes to the story, most notably using aliens instead of robots from the future, but the script gives the impression of having been written in too much of a hurry to get these changes right. For example, one of the rules of the Terminator universe is that you can’t take anything with you back in time, so nobody has any weapons or even any clothing from the future. Abraxas doesn’t need to keep this rule, but it does anyway, by ‘crossing the teleportation streams’ or something so that both Abraxas and Secundus lose their weaponry (but not, thank god, their clothes) on their way to Earth. There’s no reason for this, it’s only there because it was there in the Terminator movies.
Occasionally the movie tries to be funny. It rarely works – the only bit that actually got a snicker out of me on purpose was when a waitress presented Secundus with his bill and he ate it. The rest of the jokes just fall flat. There’s a scene in which one alien snippily informs another that “parsecs are not an appropriate Earth time unit!”, and it’s obvious what they’re referencing but that’s not the same as being funny. Another really bizarre moment has Abraxas telling some campers that the artificial intelligence implanted in his wrist, his ‘Answer Box’, can find Secundus by detecting his vibrational frequency, and what he actually says is “my Box has V.D.” Was that a joke? If so, was Ventura in on it? Or did somebody just think it would be really funny to trick him into saying that his vagina has an STI? What?
On a similar note, there’s a bit where Abraxas, sitting in bed with no shirt on, tells Tommy he’s going to tell him a story ‘about two men who were partners’. I’m at least pretty sure that wasn’t an intentional innuendo but man, it’s an icky thing for a large hairy man to say to a six-year-old boy.
The main thing people who’ve seen this movie remember about it is the soundtrack, which is entirely inexplicable. There’s one little strain that really does sound like the opening to I’ll be Home for Christmas on alto saxophone, and the fact that the whole movie happens in the winter only heightens the effect. This is the entire score, too – Sonya contemplates killing her child, then decides against it, to saxophone music. Abraxas and Secundus pursue each other through the woods to saxophone music. The one major exception is the song that plays over the final showdown and that’s equally out of place. What were they thinking?
Performances and casting are weird. Ventura and Sven-Ole Thorsen mostly come across as robotic, which is okay for nigh-immortal defenders of the cosmos but quickly crumbles when they’re supposed to display emotion, as when Secundus proudly addresses Tommy as ‘my son’ or when Abraxas starts to develop feelings for Sonya. I have no idea how old Sonya is supposed to be – an early scene with her parents suggests that she’s a teenager but Marjorie Bransfield (Jim Belushi’s wife, if you’re interested) is clearly thirty-odd and nobody tries to make her look younger. Everybody else is kinda low-level bad with one rather stunning exception, and that’s Francis Mitchell as Tommy.
Tommy never speaks throughout the movie, until he finally gets two words in voiceover at the end – this means that his entire character arc must be communicated non-verbally. We see that Tommy loves his mother, that he knows he has strange powers and is afraid of them and the harm he could do with them, and that he’s terrified of Secundus but doesn’t know if he should trust Abraxas either. Mitchell isn’t a brilliant child actor but he’s good enough in a movie where very little even rises to that level, and that’s fairly impressive.
If this movie has a point, it’s that there is no destiny – Tommy can be the Comator and bring about the end of the universe, but he doesn’t have to be if he doesn’t want to. He can choose how he uses his powers. This is the same thing Kyle Reese tells Sarah Connor in The Terminator: the future isn’t written yet, and our choices are important. In this one instance, Abraxas actually manages to make its point a bit better than Terminator did, because it doesn’t have the time travel. The story of Terminator was a closed loop: John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to meet Sarah so that John can be born. All this must happen because in a sense it already did. Abraxas is not chained to its own ending in this way, and so Tommy’s destiny is entirely his own without requiring a sequel to make it so.
This is also, as the summary implies, a film about rape, and the way the topic is treated ties in with the idea of our destiny being based on our choices. When Secundus kidnaps Sonya, he tells her I need your body, and makes it clear that he will use it with or without her consent. When she comes home with an infant, her father throws her out, accusing her of being sexually irresponsible. Sonya herself is tempted to do violence to the child who will always remind her of this traumatic evening.
But Sonya is actually a pretty tough cookie. She defends herself to her father, telling him she has nothing to be ashamed of. When she finds herself out in the cold, she picks herself up and builds a life for herself and her child, and she never lets the awful circumstances of Tommy’s conception colour how she treats him. Because Sonya raises him with love and support, Tommy is able to understand that his destiny does not have to be destruction. He can at last allow himself to speak, knowing his words will harm no one unless he chooses.
That’s honestly a really powerful arc for a movie, but Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe doesn’t use it effectively. The acting is way too bad and the situations far too silly for it to have an impact, and the ending focuses on Abraxas and Secundus fighting when it should be about Tommy’s internal struggle. Admittedly, external fistfights are way easier to film, but Sonya and Tommy are the emotional crux of this story, and after the arcs they’ve been through they deserve better than to be spectators at the end.
At some point in the writing process for this movie somebody seems to have realized that if Abraxas is going to be the main character he needs to learn something or evolve somehow, so that’s what they try to do. How do they do that? They have him learn emotions. Yes, it’s really corny. Yes, it involves falling in love with Sonya and deciding to retire and stay on Earth. I wonder… if they have more children, will they do it the human way, or will Abraxas hold a hand over her stomach while his Answer Box announces reproduction commenced? The other way they show us Abraxas learning emotion is having him argue with his Answer Box and eventually tell it to shut up, signifying that he’s becoming less of a machine, himself. The movie seems to think this is really funny but it’s not.
After two pages of complaining I need to reiterate that Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe is not annoying-bad, it’s hilarious-bad. In true B-movie style, its entertainment value lies in the disconnect between what the film-makers were going for and the result they produced. It’s much like Space Mutiny that way, trying so hard to be epic and falling comically short, and it would have made for similarly classic MST3K.
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OUAT 4X02 - White Out
White Out? More like Girl’s FrostBITE Out!
...They don’t get better from here.
This is one episode that prior to this rewatch, I constantly found myself coming back to. A lot of that comes down to the dynamics, and I’ll get into that soon enough, but I think there’s more to the story here than is often given credit for. It’s definitely not the “best” episode, per se (Though for me, that just comes down to some episodes simply being better rather than failings on the part of this one), but if I had to take ten episodes to a deserted island, this would be one of them without question. I’ve watched it by now at least five times and in lieu of an actual Christmas episode of the show, I’d this episode gives off constant Christmas-y vibes for me with the use of snow and the theme of hope and right now, that’s exactly what I need and want! I’ve been looking forward to doing it for a long time and now’s the perfect moment to gush about why I love this episode!
So, if you want to read my review, please head below the cut because this could very well be one of my most personal reviews in a way!
Main Takeaways
Past
So look, I love the past segment for it’s themes and David’s backstory and Anna’s support and all that, but I LOVE it for one thing and one thing only: BO PEEP! THIS WOMAN ROCKS! She’s hammy as FUCK and everything from her costume to her over the top accent to her NAME spells that out. She Cruella before Cruella was Cruella! Robin Weigert did an AMAZING job capturing that funny yet intimidating presence. That hamminess is exactly the kind of thing that a show like Once Upon a Time was made for. We’re supposed to encounter ridiculous shit all the time and Bo Peep is such a beautifully blunt part of it! She’s probably my favorite one off character for that reason. AND at the same time, her character is a a perfect challenge for David. Her character’s abilities juxtapose David’s original flighty instincts and put him in a position where if he wants to look after those he loves, he has to step up and fight. She presents a strong ultimatum. YET, she’s kind of like Biff from “Back to the Future:” symbolically the representation of all of David’s fears but at the same time, someone who he can beat. She’s such a balanced antagonist and is so underrated by the fandom at large! I would’ve KILLED for her to come back in a later episode, even just to spew some snark!
Okay, now that I’m done gushing about Bo Peep, let’s get into the meat of the episode.
Anna and David just have a great rapport. They were so close to making my favorite dynamic and that’s because Anna is a great support for David’s journey here. Her optimism is presented in a light that gives way to both cheeriness and a bit of annoyance which is just the kind of character that Anna is.in addition, David’s story about his father (Which is SO much harder to hear in hindsight, btw) makes his stubbornness toward fighting Bo Peep make sense while still being framed correctly as something he needs to step up and overcome. Overall, the storytelling is very effective here in terms of buildup and most of the payoff.
I will say though, I wish that David’s turning point -- or rather, what he says to be the payoff -- was a little bit more strongly written. When Anna asks what changed his mind, it feels like Jane Espenson improvised it because the connection to Elsa’s story wasn’t all that strong. In truth, he changed his mind because Anna was taken, as shown by the fact that prior to that, he was going to give up, and I feel like if the change of heart connected more to his father than to Elsa’s story, than the resolution would’ve connected better for me.
Present
For as much as I love the main interactions between Emma and Elsa (And we will GET to that shortly), I want to gush for a moment about the fantastic supporting cast here, and by that, I mean David and Killian. Killian basically just exists to be himself in this episode and serve as support for David and Emma, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him just doing that. But David’s support is what really steals the show here. This is clearly a man who internalized Anna’s lesson about not giving up and passes it on well. He is everyone’s rock throughout this panicked situation and because of that, everyone’s able to get through.
By contrast to what I said about David’s resolution in the past, Elsa’s resolution in the present is far stronger. Elsa’s friendship with Emma and David’s connection to Anna and her lessons makes Elsa’s show of abilities feel earned this time around. Just listen to the music when Elsa makes the hole in the ice! It’s one of my favorite pieces of the score in the entire series. It’s so triumphant and hopeful. It has the tempo of a heartbeat and really feels like Anna’s spirit is part of it as the hole proceeds to form! The storytelling melds together to make this scene into something truly special.
So for as much as I do love the episode, I will admit to take issue with a two things here and both of which have to do with Snow’s plot (Though neither involve Snow herself). First, fuck C*leman. That’s all I have to say on that matter because he doesn’t deserve any more attention. Second, yeah, the dwarves and Granny are excessively harsh towards Snow here. Like, they are going after a new mother who they know knows fuck all about power systems while knowing full well that Emma and David are investigating what happened.
Do these aspects ruin the storyline for me? The first one makes it really hard to watch the segment, but as for the second one, somewhat. It’s out of character, I admit, and the subplot itself feels more like an excuse to establish Snow as the new mayor than anything else, but it’s harmless in the grand scheme of things and gives way to cute lines.For me, Granny’s character ultimately doesn’t suffer too much from it for me and just acts as an example of how some aspects of their new lives have affected their personalities.
I saw a thread last week about the plot holes in this episode (Why didn’t they go to Regina to get Emma out of the ice wall, why not just make a smaller hole with a fireball, why not take Emma to a hospital afterwards?) that just got on my nerves a bit. Maybe it’s because this episode just means so much to me, and honestly, no offence to anyone involved in the thread (I’m pretty sure one of them reads these reviews and if that’s true, I hope you know that I mean that in earnest), but I feel like (1) the plot holes in this are so small that it’s honestly needless nitpicking, something that just gets on my nerves and (2) misses the forest for the trees. It’s missing the story, character payoff, and dynamics in order to complain about matters that just don’t matter, and I feel like that happens a lot in this series. I mean, I can be pedantic about filling the plot holes up myself (They didn’t go to Regina because Rumple shop was closer to the ice wall and by the time they could’ve, they had a solid lead on Anna’s location and that was their bargaining chip with Elsa, fire blasts in this series tend to just be giant in general, and the loft is closer than the hospital and the priority was getting Emma warm), but even as I was writing that, talking about the story elements felt like the more fulfilling thing to write. And I get that plot holes have their times and places to be picked on and picked apart, but I’m also of the mind that some episodes just don’t need it.
All Encompassing
The theme of this episode is not giving up and that’s a theme that really sinks in throughout this episode. While more of a direct story point as it pertains to Anna, David, and Elsa, it’s more indirect in the ways that it applies to Emma and Henry. At the beginning of the episode, after receiving Regina’s note, Henry gets depressed at the prospect of Regina not wanting to see him for the time being and Emma, unable to get through to him, laments her failure. But both of these characters learn through David that to stop trying is a mistake. Thus, Emma gives getting through to Henry another go, one much more successful and Henry gets through to Regina. And both of these developments have a very organic feel towards how they come about and are fantastic with how they resolve.
When people say that the Frozen characters got too much screen time, I often go back to this episode. While Anna and Elsa are big presences in this episode, no one is sidelined as an expense. David, Killian, Emma, Snow, and Henr all play integral roles in the story and blend well with the Frozen characters.
This is one of David’s best episodes. His character gets to be both a powerful lead and support across the two segments and shows a well rounded versatility to him that often isn’t explored all that much and so well.
Stream of Consciousness
-I love the angles of the cars in the opening scene with Elsa. Not only are they all great shots with fitting sound effects, but narratively, they serve two story points. First, they play to Elsa’s fears. She’s alone in a town that has technology she knows nothing about. Second, the cars themselves show their speed, and that helps make Elsa’s choice to create the ice wall make so much sense to me.
-Will my heart ever not break at the sight of the “Leaving Storybrooke” sign? No, it will ALWAYS break!
-The more I see the Josh Dallas Fabio hair, the more I like the Josh Dallas Fabio hair, and I already loved it!
-”I’ll find out your name at the wedding.” I’m really sad that David never got to go to the wedding now. :(
-I LOVE the Baby Neal scene in the loft! It’s nice and goofy and gives off a small domestic moment without overstaying its welcome.
-”3? I see the optimism returning.”I never noticed this joke before! This episode never runs out of funny things! XD
-Dude! Full props for Emma for going to bat for Regina! She really does get it and gets that Regina’s doing what she can to spare Henry from experiencing any of the pain she’s feeling right now. And while it hurts, sometimes people have their own ways of coping with things, for better or for worse. Like, that was just a fantastic moment!
-Also, props to David for helping alleviate Emma’s guilt! Great parenting and it shows how much he understands both Emma and Regina, so it’s also a good Regina and David moment!
-...There is a lot of Captain Charming squeeing going on right now in the ship section.
-”I found it in the store filled with things.” Elsa, that was the least helpful explanation I have ever heard! XD
-I LOVE that deafening sound effect right after Elsa puts up the ice wall. It’s so terrifying and allows for the fear of the situation to really hit the audience.
-Elsa’s “evil lady” act is so fucking adorable! Yes, you’re very scary, baby! XD
-”I’m starting to get why Regina was evil. It wasn’t her, it was you.” I know a lot of antis take issue with this line, but sometimes a line is just meant to be a joke and given how the preamble to Snow’s rant was about how tired she was, I’m gonna pretty sure this was a freakin’ joke, and a great one too! XD
-”It [the cold] never bothered me.” Oh my God, ALL of the Frozen references! While there were probably one too many of them, they never fail to crack me up.
-Minor gripe, but I do wish that we saw some of Emma’s magic fluctuating a bit more prior to her scene with Elsa where they discuss a lack of magical control. Apart from the time portal shenanigans and the crane game encounter (Which she forgot and came after this episode), Emma’s had pretty good control over her magic as of this moment in the present.
-”You only want to know more because if I sleep, I’ll die.” ...Yes! That’s why you should talk! About your son! The main reason you want to stay alive! ...Like, that was a legit terrible line! Just have her fall asleep because that was dangerously close to anti Swan Believer material and in a bad way!
-Not gonna lie, Butcher Bo Peep is reallllllllllllyyy pretty. I am legit attracted to her.
-David giving Anna the horse is the equivalent of Emma repurposing her red leather jacket, granted in a smaller way.
-”I hope I’ll see both of you at the wedding.” Oh man! Ruth couldn’t come either! Rip my heart out, why don’t you?!
-David, I get the symbolic gesture, but that is a HORSE! A horse is a useful animal for a farmer and that horse might love you and its home! XD
-Not gonna lie, I’m pretty sure “I missed my room” was the line that snapped Regina out of her full-on funk. It also cracks me up! XD
-”This is kind of cool. Pun intended.” And THIS is why I love you, Emma! <3
-Ingrid, I’m no germaphobe, but EW! XD
Favorite Dynamic
Frozen Swan. Emma and Elsa’s first episode together is the dynamic equivalent of a Lindt truffle. It’s well rounded, satisfying, and exquisite with a delicate contrast. I think an episode like this is so important for Emma because it shows that while she has walls, they’re not as paralyzing as people think they are. In a lot of respects, this is a Season 4 Emma looking back on some of her more Season 1-esque qualities. But Elsa’s no slouch either! This dynamic does so much to show how Elsa’s more than just a two-trick pony of ice magic and sister longing. She cares about helping innocents, is competent, and her excitement towards finding another magic user is adorable. My favorite part of their dynamic is how they compare their worries about handling magic and leadership. Those are two very big connecting points for these characters and I’m glad they were touched upon.
Writer
Jane Espenson starts off our season here and she did a bang up job with the writing here. The past lends itself to generally great storytelling and the present has this great feeling of tension throughout it as everyone’s either trying to save Emma or reason with Elsa. The only moment to breath is the Snow plot which I feel was just straight-up made for purposes of levity and to make the plot point that Snow’s the mayor. Besides that, I do think the writing is strong here. The theme of not giving up is so solidly present throughout the episode and lends itself well to everyone’s journeys. Apart from one or two weird lines and character moments, the dialogue itself was well developed and the pacing was en pointe!
Rating
10/10. I really wanted to give this episode a Golden Apple, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t justify it. It doesn’t mean my love for this episode is any less valid (I’m saying this more to myself than to anyone in particular), but yeah, I can’t give it that score if I want to be honest with myself. The chinks in the armor of the episode are small bit by bit, but they do add up. That said, I love this episode so much! We get so many amazing character moments, a good (if not somewhat loose) story, and a strong message about the benefits of perseverance. The ending is so optimistic and feel good that my earlier claims of it being one of the closest things OUAT has to a Christmas episode aren’t too far off.
Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”
Captain Swan - As you might have guessed, Captain Swan goodness makes up a GREAT deal of why I love this episode. I read this once before and please let me know the source of it if you know it, but “it’s says something about your ship when one of your favorite episodes of theirs doesn’t even have them kiss.” Well, this is easily in my top 5 favorite CS episodes of all time. They get so much development, both while together and as they communicate with other characters. First, I love the “ice bucket” banter. Emma just can’t take that hotness between them! Second, that Captain Charming scene just fucking says it all! “I wouldn’t risk my life for someone I see as loot. Whatever we become, it’s up to her as much as me.” I CAN DIE A HAPPY WOMAN NOW! Put those words on my fucking tombstone, ok?! If we JUST had these two lines, this would still be one of my favorite CS episodes, but oh my golly, we have MORE! “Emma, say again.” The fucking worry in Colin’s voice. Just...I cannnnnnn’t. *wails* Just...Killian is in such distress throughout this entire episode. He’s so worried he’s about to lose another person he loves and it kills him and it kills me. And once she’s safe, ICE WALL CUDDLES!!! That hug is so fucking romantic. I don’t know what’s better! The Captain Charming conversation from earlier or the Ice Wall Cuddles, but I love both of them sooooooo fucking much! The way she cradles his head and the way he carries her!!! It’s perfect!!! And then the hand hold. Just..I’m so happy!!!
Hopeful Hero - ...I love Snowing, but I’mma ship this ‘till the cows come home! David and Anna just have a fabulous rapport and had there been a kiss akin to Snow and Hercules’ from “Labor of Love,” I wouldn’t have complained!
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And there you have it, one of my all time favorite episodes! It’s a bit flawed, but I just adore it with every beat of my heart. Did I change your mind on it or even make you love it more if you were already a fan? Let me know!
As always, thanks to the fabulous folks at @watchingfairytales for making this awesome project and shoutout to my awesome and supportive friend and regular, @daensarah! (If you want notifications for when I post these, hit me up!)
Next time, we go further down the road of the Frozen Arc and just a warning: Things are about to get rocky. XD
Season 3 Total (19/230)
Writer Scores:
Adam and Eddy: (9/60)
Jane Espenson : (10/40)
*Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. They take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.
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EPISODE 1 RECAP
Welcome to season FIVE of Bachelor in Paradise! We are ready to attack this season from two coasts, simultaneously, armed with way too much wine and a hysterically apropos gif folder. For week one, we want to make sure everyone knows our cast of characters for this season, even if those characters turn out to be a major WHO, or Woefully Humdrum Occupant.
Tia:
A heavy hitter this season [read: someone the production will focus on for star power and sheer drama], Tia comes to Paradise on the coattails of dating Colton (from Becca's season) and stealing him away from the Bachelorette. In theory, anyway, since she hasn't made a move post-season, pre-Paradise. She is first on the beach, eventually starting a dialogue with anyone who will listen about her need to see Colton in Paradise. This is shaping up to be a very Ashley I. situation, and for anyone keeping track [Kevin], that could potentially be a good thing! Tia spends the entire first half of the episode awfully disappointed that Colton hasn’t dragged his gorilla knuckles down the sandy steps of Paradise in the time frame she was aiming for. When the producers ultimately dupe her with a date card, she chooses Chris. Tia wants "a serious relationship," and "something lasting," or at least that's what she tells the dude she's kissing right before Colton shows up. Colton eventually arrives the next day, and after artfully wasting his time pretending to talk to Kendall & Angela, swoops in on Tia and whisks her away on a yacht, during which time she rescinds her earlier, "Colton WHO?!"
Kendall:
An adorable ray of sunshine, far removed from the dead animal obsessive of Nick's season -- oh wait, she's discussing cemeteries and corpses with Grocery Store Joe. Old habits! Kendall tells the camera that "there's more to Kendall than just taxidermy and ukulele," and the editors cut to Kendall half naked in a yellow bikini, offering America the world. Kendall stays low key this episode, offering not-too-deep cuts and only slightly biting commentary throughout; she tells Joe sweet simplicities like, "I like talking to you," and, "Have you ever seen a dead body?" finally sealing the deal with a makeout session on a day bed while the producers lure Krystal away for an interview and then break the news to her.
Krystal:
Krystal is a blonde woman with whitened teeth and a fitness influencer on Instagram here to explain the "adversity" she has faced since appearing on Arie's season. In true editing reflection to Kendall's scene, Krystal says she has "a lot more to offer" while the camera pans over her bikini bod on the beach. She tells us that having a dog and knowing how to cook are the prerequisites for being a wife, which means that 70% of the men we know are going to be excellent wives. After a brief montage of Krystal's voice from the previous season, we're left wondering if she's woman who has just completed an orgasm and is rushing to meet the mailman, or, a white woman at a country club that has just crushed two Xanax into her morning Chardonnay. Krystal steals Joe away, much to Kendall's chagrin, and a fascinating conversation ensues as two white people discuss their heritage and bond over their exotic Norwegian backgrounds. Krystal licks her chops and moans, "Excellent," after finding out Joe is untainted and hasn't watched her season. She finishes off the episode in Kevin's arms, and they make out with the fervor and desperation of a man whose girlfriend has just left him for JARED and a woman who has had to adjust her voice several octaves to join this cast.
Wills:
The producers try their best to give Wills his moment of adorable redemption by putting him in various printed shirts and having him dance in a goofy way in a park.
Jordan:
Jordan whips out his slightly pudgy "model body" and declares that he's finally "in a place as beautiful as" him. He shows his relaxed, redemption ready side with a glass of white wine on his sofa whilst petting his cat. He slobbers over most of the women, including Annaliese, who doesn’t seem to mind the fact that he thinks chickens go, "Quack, quack." After multiple awkward silences with multiple women, his next victim is Nysha, whom he tells, "You only get this one life, right? You don't know where your soul or your energy is going to go after this." Nysha awkwardly agrees, and Jordan proceeds to tell her he wants to be a crab on the island. He later stirs drama by telling Chris that Colton is "a serpent" that he needs to cut the head off of, setting up next's week's storyline nicely.
Chelsea:
Our Klonopin mommy wanders down the Paradise steps with all the vigor of a woman sentenced to death, managing to say "hopeful" with all the hope of the string quartet aboard the Titanic. Chelsea spends the episode unobtrusively floating around, a human Xanax with eyes that beg you to end her suffering. She tells the producers, "I have no idea what I did to be here," followed by, "I am loving it," spoken with the cadence of someone who had to put their dog down today and then locked themselves out of their car. Chelsea's great contribution, however, is a brief dialogue with Nick that turns out to be the highlight of the episode.
Nick:
Nick starts out the ep by being a big WHO, and ends up in the hall of fame. He takes a drunken seat next to untoasted Wonderbread slice and single mother Chelsea on the day bed, and pours out his soul. "You're fucking cool as shit." Chelsea tells him she's not making the first move.
"Chelsea's a snack. A woman that has a child doesn't really bother me at all." You're right, you could just ship it off to boarding school and then it wouldn't be a bother at all.
"I love moms and moms usually love me." For a man who has had exactly .3 seconds of air time, he's managed to fit in 90% of the episode's memorable quotes.
The producers rightfully question Nick's future parenting style. He tells them, "I think I would be a great role model," and follows it up with a huge guffaw. They ask him Chelsea's son's name and he cycles through "Joey," "Danny," "Johnny," and "Slippy," before landing on "Sammy." Fifth time's the charm. He tells Chelsea he has a "super weird attraction" to her and offers to walk her up "towards her area." After she gives him the slip, Nick laments that he's spent too much time putting in groundwork with Chelsea, and now he's "thumbing his own asshole." Chelsea's kid is gonna love this guy, especially after he uses Sammy's vintage baseball card collection as coasters for his Coors light.
Eric:
"It's miracle season!" Eric trills with 20% less enthusiasm than a year ago. He has several memorable moments with Tia, telling the producers that "she's got nice teeth, long hair, nice feet, nice body," which goes hand in hand with "I have a lot more to offer," since the women are judged almost strictly on their appearance and Instagram sponsorship-worthiness.
"I like your toes, is white your favourite colour?" is another loaded question, during which Eric mentions feet again while also questioning Tia's ethnic preference in a partner right out of the gate.
Annaliese:
Annaliese gets a flashback to Arie's season, and a new clip package where she lets us know her fears include: "the dog thing," sand, thunder, large bodies of water [all literally included on the notoriously stormy coast of Mexico she's headed to], class one recycled plastics, guys with red hair, sombreros, birds, AND, the biggest thing that scares her, "not finding love." She cues the "Evan and Carly" buzzwords, a true love story for the ages that included Evan faking serious trauma and trapping Carly in a hot yurt. Annaliese tells the camera that she wants a ring, followed by marriage and babies. She seems as if she's not sure how the babies are made following the marriage, but is enthusiastic about finding out.
Chris:
Chris has a brief intro during which he feeds swans and compares himself to a goose, trying to convince the viewers that he's a goofy and fun loving weirdo and not an over perspiring sociopath. Following his date with Tia, Chris acts entirely proprietary, laughing as Nick says that Colton is getting "sloppy segundos," and generally being misogynistic.
Colton:
Colton isn't exactly worth mentioning this episode, briefly shading Tia for being the reason that he had to leave Becca after he fell in love with her. She says she understands, and feels guilty, but doesn't exactly look guilty aboard a gorgeous yacht on a date with her best friend's ex. Colton is "here to figure his shit out," and Tia wants to give it a shot. They jump happily into shark infested waters together, but escape on a Jet Ski. That last one's only partially a metaphor.
David:
David is a "former chicken," who we strongly believe should hook up with Tiara the "chicken enthusiast" from Ben's season. David provides the producers with a clip package involving him living with his mom in Florida, where she waits on him hand and foot. "Unfortunately I can't marry my mom." No, David, but you can marry a similarly aged retiree in Boca Raton and keep living the same lifestyle you're accustomed to. David has beef with Jordan, but they shake hands and go their separate ways without the bloodbath everyone predicted would follow.
Kevin:
Kevin is wearing a firefighter outfit in his intro despite harboring the needlessly creepy glare of an arsonist who's girlfriend just left him for JARED. He shades Ashley I. hard, accusing her of cheating and not helping the relationship work. He's *yikes* 34, and has heard through "The Bachelor Grapevine" i.e. the entire internet, that his ex is engaged to JARED. Is Kevin into being dominated by "fit" Krystal? Between the arson and the masochism we have some deeply rooted trauma to dig up this season.
Joe:
Grocery store Joe was kicked off of Becca's season night one, and admits he only had himself to blame by being awkward and nervous. Shortly after, "Twitter blew up" and now he's on a rainbow ride to a pot of gold filled with hair gummy vitamins. Joe's low self confidence somehow makes him more charming, and Chris Harrison tells him not to "screw it up this time." He briefly speaks to Tia about Colton, saying "I like him, he's nice" with the same enthusiasm that Chelsea uses to approach just about everything. Joe sticks with Kendall throughout the episode, which we're big fans of.
Bibi:
Bibiana is a gorgeous ray of sunshine and has brought a multitude of bikinis for Paradise. She tries to add some humour to Chris Harrison's life by declaring that the bumpy SUV ride there was "more action than her uterus has seen in a while," but he doesn't take the bait. She also lets us know that she's waiting for her "hoohah" to send her a sign, and wishes the producers would blur her ass.
John:
Venmo John deserves love! He has convos on camera with multiple women, including Angela and Annaliese, but we here at Bi-Coastal BIP ship him hard with Astrid, who is pretty and safe.
Astrid:
Pretty-but-safe Astrid is back, keeping her catty screentime to the confessional and generally staying out of everyone's day whilst posing as a plastic Solo cup filled with lukewarm water.
Angela:
A WHO straight out of an eighties Dynasty episode.
Nysha:
A sweet but misguided WHO, getting points for letting everyone know she was "blink and you miss me" on Arie's season. Nysha decides to tell Jordan she believes in reincarnation and that her soul gets "transferred somewhere else."
Kenny:
Another fan fave that is back to try, try again, Kenny is now FORTY-SIX?! And still chose to dust off his dad flip flops and matching dad tank top. We meet his eleven year old daughter and pray that her friends don't make fun of her at school.
Preview thoughts:
This season's preview has us seeing Krystal with Kenny, Angela with Eric, Krystal and Jordan, Kevin & Astrid?!, Kendall & Leo,
Joe tells us he's falling in love with Kendall, and Leo calls him a "grocery store bitch." Kendall cries, David plots ruining Jordan's summer, Jenna shows up (WHO?), Shushanah faces some assholes calling her a witch and Euro trash, Tia and Colton shed tears, and Chris claims he's falling in love with Tia. Ben shows up to shout his one and only memorable line, "I am unlovable," Amanda makes an appearance in DiffEye shades that came straight from her Instagram, and unfortunately Arie/Lauren show up as well. Human mannequins Robby and Jordan square off, Raven reminds us that she had her first orgasm in Paradise, JARED proposes to Ashley I., Carly/Evan and Jade/Tanner show up with tots in tow, more tears are shed, fights are briefly glimpsed, and Chelsea misses a Xanax dose, sobbing and struggling to breathe in her confessional. See you guys Monday!
#thebachelor#the bachelorette#bachelor in paradise#bip5#tia booth#colton underwood#chris harrison#bachelor nation
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themxerte replied to your post “With the introduction of Moira, and the discussions and scandal a lot...”
Universes. And yeah those are maybe weak spots but I simply don't believe that a company that has the whole game dedicated to the grey moralities of how you see good and evil differently from a different point of view (World of Warcraft) would make such a damn boring, not complexed evil character.
Heya friend, I was wondering if you had actually taken the time to read my entire 1.5k word post detailing how I think Moira fits into the reaper story line.
However if you have read it and still feel that I feel that way about his characterization, allow me to elaborate and include and cite actual evidence. I love Gabriel Reyes and I firmly believe that he will be the epitome of grey morality within the story.
That being said there is nothing, nothing within the story saying that Reyes didnt get some of his powers before the fall of overwatch. In fact given the track it seemed the devs would go down earlier, I’d argue it was canon that he had at least some of them since SEP at the very least. I still think it’s canon that he had some of them before the explosion.
I also never said that he got his smokey wraith powers before the introduction of Moira. I said that I believe something was wrong DNA wise because he was an earlier test subject within the SEP program than Jack, and that his DNA, the fabric of his existence, was deteriorating causing a boatload of problems that no one was willing to risk getting caught up in major legal trouble to fix. I believe his body smoking is part of that. It’s probably something completely out of his control until Moira enters the picture.
The way the devs worded their unveiling of Moira at blizzcon and her relationship to Gabriel Reyes, they implied that it’s plausible that Reyes didn’t necessarily get his powers from Moira, but instead Moira got her powers from studying Reyes’ DNA and it’s degeneration. A theory heavily backed up by in-game lore:
“Repairing Degenerative Genetic Structures” with a large post-it note that says “Draft”
Not to mention the blizzcon panel
Geoff Goodman: “It [Her Fade ability] has some similarities to Reaper’s wraith form…uh which is…it’s funny how that works out.”
Michael Chu: “You know, we obviously - there’s a…there’s a close relationship between Moira and Reyes-slash-Reaper, and I think one of the fun things we were able to do is to sort of hint at some of those things in her, uh, abilities.”
Geoff Goodman: “She’s helping Reaper out and is like, ‘You know, I think I could make this better, I have an idea.’”
Blizzcon 2017
On to my other points:
“We sort of saw Overwatch really open up to the world, and listening to players and the stories they were telling and what they imagined the Omnic crisis to be really made us second guess what we were doing in First Strike,” said Kaplan. “We thought, ‘Hey, if we go down this path, it really closes all these doors.’”
Fan theories about the Overwatch cast’s pasts abound, and players produce fiction, art and other original content in droves. Although animated shorts and digital comics have had success in filling out the game’s universe — particularly the most recent comics, “Uprising” and “Reflections” — the Overwatch team found that a 100-page graphic novel no longer made sense as supplemental reading material, six months into the game’s life.
“Part of the magic is that everything is not tied off and explained to players,” Kaplan said of keeping Overwatch’s canon less defined. “There’s a lot going on in Overwatch right now where I think that the story in players’ heads is often even cooler than what we can deliver to them.”
Jeff Kaplan May 2017 during a polygon interview
One very important thing to remember is that early previews of that 100 page graphic novel showed Gabriel Reyes as an ominous figure with heavily shadowed lighting. I believe that fan input especially on how Reyes is characterized, and the theories involving him had a lot to do with the cancellation.
Yes, Gabriel Reyes manipulated Overwatch into helping innocent lives in Kings Row during the uprising comic. Even as Reaper he’s shown to kill very very few people. Like 2 people on screen max, and neither of those people were innocent. They worked for Vialli one of the top talon “bosses”.
I’m not saying that Reyes is going to just let innocent people get caught in the crossfires of his plans. Kings Row can’t boil over into a full out omnic uprising because that will absolutely be a catastrophe that could trigger another full-out omnic crisis. He’s shown to be more pro-active in making sure people are safe than Jack is.
And Talon doesnt know about his involvement with the capture of doomfist or Overwatch’s intervention. This is extremely important information to remember. Gabriel Reyes is a man who works in the shadows, and I firmly believe that he has no firm allegiance to anyone, but rather to the ideal of making sure that nothing like the Omnic crisis ever happens again while he still lives/functions.
Every single one of his talon missions that would have brought the world closer to an omnic crisis (Katya’s assassination, retrieving information about the whereabouts of former overwatch agents, stealing doomfist’s gauntlet, killing Jack or Ana) has completely and utterly failed. The man is a tactical genius and so far every mission save picking up doomfist and infiltrating talon and killing vialli’s men, has failed. Against people he’s worked along side before.
There is absolutely no way he doesn’t know what they’re capable of. The dude outsmarted god ai programs, you really think he wouldn’t have been able to calculate his former friends’ actions and adjust his missions accordingly? Hell, he even knows it was sombra that fucked up the assassination, and he did nothing about it.
Gabriel Reyes is an incredibly intelligent and calculating man. He was probably the president of the chess club in high school, and as every chess player knows, you have to be at least 2-3 steps ahead of your opponent. On any normal type higher level you should know the next ten moves and each possible outcome. Someone on Reyes’ level has hundreds of different moves calculated at any given time.
So now imagine for a moment, that Gabriel Reyes is not some soft goober of a man some people make him but instead a calculating morally grey person who understands exactly what is at stake if talon wins. He’s lived through one crisis, but the world is only just beginning to truly bounce back. It was essentially Armageddon. It cannot happen again.
Talon has infiltrated overwatch.
Talon has infiltrated blackwatch.
Talon has has most likely infiltrated the UN.
Conventional methods of tracking and dealing with spies hasn’t been working. The head of the Overwatch anti-talon task force is dead and his wife is missing. He is doing what he can to help, ie sending mccree to kings row to deal with the uprising situation as well as manipulating overwatch to help. Sending Genji to help apprehend doomfist. Things that talon doesn’t know about because it isn’t strictly blackwatch shit going on. It’s a man on vacation, a commander checking in with his friends and updating them on a situation. It isn’t direct involvement at kings row. It’s manipulation.
But overwatch is strangled in even more red tape and controversies and it’s failing. It cannot properly do its job anymore and Gabriel Reyes is running out of options. Mccree and genji have left; who can he trust but himself.
I believe he did plant the bomb to blow up the zurich base. But I also happened to notice that only Jack was caught in the blast besides him. None of the main overwatch agents were caught in the explosion. He has cool smokey wraith form so he can probably survive, that’s probably one of the ways he was able to survive, though there were obviously some serious complications. I’m sure other overwatch members died in the blast, but he seems to have waited until the base was relatively empty.
Talon can trust him now. Something went wrong of course he has a vendetta.
Except, he is ineffectual. His direct actions with winston to secure the names and locations of former overwatch agents in order to fulfill that vendetta prompts winston to recall the old agents. His actions with Hakim and talon reunite Jack and Ana when he has a chance to kill both of them. Overwatch is being reformed except this time, it’s not under the UN’s control.
Meanwhile reaper, seeming terrorist with a vendetta against overwatch who “inadvertently” cause overwatch to reform a few years after the fall as an independent organization away from the control of the UN and likely away from the clutches of talon’s shadow puppets there.
But he also has their trust which means that innocent people have also likely died by his hand in his quest to infiltrate and take out talon. I also have no doubt in my mind that he probably would kill Jack or Ana or any of his friends if they do actually interfere with his plans just as i do believe that if he felt that it was necessary, he would let innocents die.
“What’s important to us is that their motivations are not purely rooted in being evil, despite how they might seem on the surface. As we reveal more about these characters, we want people to be able to empathize and understand their beliefs. Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals. And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic or more charismatic or as likeable as a hero character - because, like the old saying goes, ‘every villain is the hero of their own story.’”
Michael Chu early March 2017
Reyes has a lot of potential to be an almost antihero. Someone who does some shady under the table shit, but only because he thinks it will help the world. I think Blizzard has realized this and why it hasn’t cemented a lot of things in canon. They want to wait and see what it is that fans could seriously enjoy. They love fan feedback. That’s why they created Moira! That’s why they cancelled the 100 page graphic novel about the omnic crisis! Because they want to be able to see their story evolve just as much as the fans do.
anyways. I’m not putting this one under a cut so people don’t have to take the time to click the button to see ALL of what i have to say about the subject (even though I have tons more to say, but I’ve spent so much time on this that I kind of want to be done rn)
#themxerte#gabriel reyes#moira overwatch#overwatch#fan theory#w34ry words#i hope ive explained my thoughts even more#because i love gabriel reyes and would die for him
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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/slice-director-and-cast-on-their-wild-and-weird-horror-comedy-interview/
'Slice' Director and Cast on Their Wild and Weird Horror Comedy [Interview]
One of the most talked about streaming releases of the week was dropped on the unsuspecting public on Monday like a new album by Beyonce, Radiohead or Kanye West, with nearly identical fanfare, due in large part to it being the big-screen acting debut of Chance the Rapper (or as he’s credited in the film, Chance Bennett). The film in question is a horror-comedy offering called Slice, the feature writing/directing effort from Austin Vesely, who has worked previously with Chance and some of his label mates on music videos over the last few years.
Slice opens with the murder of a pizza delivery driver (played by Vesely) in the part of town occupied by ghosts — and there’s nothing spooky about it. The film takes place in a version of reality where ghosts and other supernatural beings are just a part of day-to-day life. Chance plays a werewolf, who also used to deliver Chinese food; there are also witches about. The town’s only pizza place (owned by Paul Scheer) is built atop a gateway to hell, and it’s partly up to another delivery person named Astrid (the great Zazie Beetz) to find out who’s being what becomes a string of murders of her co-workers.
/Film spoke with several members of the Slice production, including Vesely, just hours before the film’s world premiere in Chicago, where it’s release plan was announced (the film is being distributed by A24, which has an impressive history with releasing unconventional horror films). Joining the filmmaker was Beetz, who most recently kicked serious tail as Domino in Deadpool 2, as well as appearing in the epic second season of FX’s Atlanta. She also has somewhere in the neighborhood of six films scheduled for release in 2019, including the latest from Steven Soderbergh, High Flying Bird.
The third member of this interview gathering was noted film buff Sheer, the co-host of two Earwolf podcasts, How Did This Get Made? (on which he talks about bad movies) and Unspooled (where he and co-host Amy Nicholson are working their way through the AFI’s top 100 movies list). Sheer also starred in such films as The Disaster Artist and Popstar, as well as series like The League. We get into the origins of Slice’s story, capturing the proper horror/comedy balance, and the challenges of shooting in Joliet, Illinois (home of the infamous prison from The Blues Brothers).
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I heard you talking to someone earlier about tech checking your film earlier today and seeing you name on the big screen for the first time. What was that feeling like?
Austin: It’s bananas! It’s absolute crazy. It doesn’t quite make sense to me just yet. But even walking down the hallway to the theater and seeing the digital readout that said Slice outside the theater, it was heavy.
And you’re not going to get many chance to have that experience with this film, at least on the big screen.
Austin: And I’m glad that happened here in Chicago, where we made the movie.
Paul: What’s so crazy about this movie is that when it was just a spec script, there was a poster up on line for it.
This is a comedy-horror film, which can be fairly awful if done the wrong way, but it can be beautiful when done correctly. Tell me about the balance for you—how funny did you want to make it, how gross and bloody do you get on the horror side?
Austin: To me, it’s primarily a comedy. What I like about horror is that it’s got these very recognizable genre conventions, and what’s fun about that is that everyone recognizes them and you can subvert them easily. That just gives you a lot of room to play around and go into this genre that people know and love and play around with it. It’s more of a comedy masquerading as this horror film. But you’re right, it is a precarious tone. I think it was all in the casting when it came to figuring out who was going to be able to ride that line. But there’s a spectrum of performances too.
There’s a spectrum of performers just on this couch. Was your approach, when in doubt, go for the comedy?
Austin: I think so, but then when I saw that I feel like it’s not true. The auditions we did here in Chicago, we had all of these amazing theater actors come in, and one guy in particular, Tim Decker, who I think about a lot because he so is the tone of the movie. He came in and he’s not telegraphing the humor; he’s really committed to what the world is.
Zazie: But that’s what works so well about his performance—he’s not trying to be funny. He’s just committing to the world, and the world in itself is so ebullient that going straight there, it still works.
Paul: I’d also argue that one of the things that’s so defining about this movie is how good it looks. That’s the thing that’s often missing in these slapdash…like you said, when horror-comedy goes bad, because it’s like they don’t care. I feel like, “No, it’s got to function as a real thing.” This thing has a defined set of characteristics, and Austin’s fingerprints are all over this. It really does like a movie you made and not just a collage of different ideas.
You make it seem like this doesn’t take place in this world exactly. So where are we playing exactly?
Austin: Yeah, yeah. It’s like middle-America, but it’s middle-America where ghosts exist and people are like “These fucking ghosts.” They just annoyed by it and take it for granted that this is where the world is. “Oh, we had a werewolf problem.” Stuff like that. It’s definitely not the universe we’re living in, as far as I know.
Paul: Also, it doesn’t comment on it that much.
Zazie: It’s just assumed that ghosts and things are a part of the world around you.
What was the germ of this story?
Austin: It was about six years ago, I was thinking of ideas for movies, and it was just like “Pizza delivery, horror—that sounds like a good idea.” I ended up writing a version of it that was more grounded in the world that we live in, it still had it’s own tone, but it was more of an Edgar Wright tone. Eventually, I started to develop it, and there was this book that I really loved called CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders, and there was a little thing in this novella where he places ghosts in the universe and deals with them like they’re a pain in the ass. “The ghosts are out there booing and wooing in the parking lot all the time when I get off work,” and I thought that was so funny and I’d never seen it quite done in a movie. So that was how it became something else and it started to be about putting in these other horror genre conventions. Let’s put in ghosts and werewolves into this pizza/middle-America story and see how that goes.
Are there certain horror tropes that you subverted as well?
Paul: I think this movie keeps you on your toes because you don’t quite ever know what kind of movie you’re seeing. At the beginning, you’re like “It’s this,” and then it switches to something else.
Zazie: It’s almost a bit of a genre shift by the end as well.
Paul: Yeah, and I’d even say at certain points, the lead of the film even shifts. It passes off a bit. People do things, then they go away, then they come back again. It’s a very fluid, different thing. I think one of the things that’s so interesting about it is that in this world of indie film, there’s often a very similar type of script that you see—dramas, dramedies, and then there’s horror. And this is unlike all of those. For that simple reason, it’s exciting. When I was growing up, when I saw indie films, it was everybody doing their own thing and each one felt very unique, and not just “We’re in a family and things are troubled.”
Tell me about your characters.
Paul: You should go first, because I can speak in context to your character.
Zazie: I’m one of the only characters who survived from the short film [script].
Austin: Actuallym you both did.
Zazie: My character’s name is Astrid. It’s difficult to talk about without revealing too much. Somebody close to me gets killed, and I go out for revenge.
Paul: She used to work for me, and you come back to the pizza place to figure out what the deal is.
Zazie: Yeah, I get the team together to help figure out what’s going on. There are killings happening in the town, and we’re trying to figure it out. I’m emotionally spearheading it.
Paul: And I’m upset because all of this is diluting my final money totals [laughs]. This is a work-stoppage situation. I’m looking at it from a commerce perspective.
You’ve worked with Chance a lot in the past, but making a film is a huge jump in many ways. When I saw that he was in, I wasn’t in anyway concerned with his performance because he was so good on SNL. Talk about the discussions you two had, and how involved was he in creating this with you? It sound like most of this came out of your head.
Austin: It is, and that’s what was great about it. He was so willing to get on board with what I was trying to do, even when it was extremely strange. I think that comes from us having a comfortable working relationship form the past several years. We were working together but we were supplementing his art. So in this case, it was the opposite.
Paul: When this movie was being shot, it was right at the point where Chance went supernova.
Zazie: His album was released that year.
Paul: Right. I think right before I started shooting, he was on Ellen, and I think of Ellen as being the marker of grand success. He was on tour when we were shooting, but at that moment, he was exploding into the cultural mainstream.
How was he to direct?
Austin: Luckily, part of writing this werewolf character, I was writing it with him in mind. I was thinking of his voice. We all know that Michael Jackson werewolf in “Thriller,” so I was thinking “What is Chance the Rapper as a werewolf?” [laughs] He’s kind of a rascal, just wily dude. It was a lot of fun to play around with him on that.
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When you bring in these really fun people to be in your movie, do you give them a chance to customize their characters, play with them a little bit before you start shooting?
Austin: I felt that way.
Paul: I don’t know if it was as much changing as it was having a real collaborative experience. One of the interesting things about Austin is that he’s a first-time feature director who was so open to making the best product. We work with a lot of people who, the first time out, want to hold onto every idea, every instinct. And allowing us to go in different directions, whether of not you used them or not, I think it speaks to someone who to do a lot of great work because you’re willing to be a collaborator.
You shot this mostly around here?
Austin: Yeah, Joliet.
Are there recognizable locations?
Austin: [laughs] For Joliet residents.
Did you get the Blues Brothers prison in there?
Austin: Yes! It’s in the background of a scene that Zazie is in.
Paul: One of the cool things about Joliet is that people were psyched that we were shooting a movie there. They wanted to participate. I remember our producer driving to set, and he saw a cool car on the side of the road, very unique looking. And went there and asked “Can we use your car?” And they said, “Yeah, sure!” That’s not something you’re going to get anywhere else.
Austin: That guys was like “Yeah, you can use my car. Do you want to use my other car?” But no landmarks you would know unless you’re from Joliet. It’s that middle-America thing again. I grew up in smaller towns—I’ve only been in Chicago about eight years. One of the things about it was as I was writing and developing this, it’s funny to think about werewolves and ghosts in Bentondorf, Iowa. I needed a place that was city-adjacent.
Zazie: And then also being in that kind of bubble helped us. We were all staying in Joliet, which is right off the highway, and there were days when I was like “I need to get the fuck out of here.” [laughs]
I hear they have a lovely riverboat casino.
Paul: [laughs] I remember being in that hotel, it was isolating because even getting to Chicago was like 45 minutes, so now we’re talking about a two-hour drive back and forth.
Austin: I remember Zazie was here when the first season of Atlanta came out. She’s having this big, huge moment and she’s in this hotel in Joliet.
Zazie: Yes, September 6, 2016. I was in Joliet.
Talk about transitioning the short film script to a feature. What did you grow upon, what did you create from scratch?
Austin: I really liked the idea, and when I started adding those supernatural elements, I realized that there was a lot to play with here. What it started doing for me was giving me this political look at the town that it takes place in. As a viewer, that’s something you can take or leave—the politics—but I became more interested in the culture of the place by expanding it. I started to write it as a pilot, and started thinking of it as Twin Peaks—it’s really about the place—and I was really interested in exploring the culture of this city, where these ghosts exist and other people exist, and what is this weird dynamic happening here?
When you say politics, is there a metaphor going on here for the world today?
Austin: Yeah, but it wasn’t overtly written that way. That’s just how it shook out.
Zazie: It definitely reads that way [laughs].
Austin: Yeah, there’s some allegorical stuff happening in there. Again, that’s one of the beautiful things about horror and those recognizable conventions. These movies do this.
What do you remember responding to specifically about your characters? What did you latch onto and try to build upon?
Zazie: For Astrid, I latched onto her motivation of love, that she is embarking on her journey because it’s a real, and she’s reaction viscerally to a very traumatic experience. I liked that within the hubbub of this world, she felt very like the beating heart of it all.
Austin: There’s an anger in her too.
Zazie: It switches on an off. I wouldn’t necessarily say that she’s the lead of the film. The story does focus on multiple storylines—there’s a reporter, and the narrative in the pizza place, my story separates from the pizza places for a while.
Paul: She is the driving narrative of the story, which is trying to figure out what’s happening. For me, it came down to less of a character thing and more of the script and the people who were attached to it. I’d seen these videos that Austin had directed, and the script was so different; it made me excited. This was something I wanted to be a part of. When I first read it, I was like “What’s the underlying thing in here?” But it brought me in in a way that I’m not often brought into things. I can diagram most movies pretty simply, but with this, I was like “I don’t know exactly what this is, and I’m really enjoying it.”
I actually had my second child right when I got offered to do this, and it was tricky because I left about a month after her was born to go do it. I wouldn’t have done that normally, but I liked this so much. I really wanted to do it, and it allowed me to do some fun stuff.
Zazie: And the team felt to passionate, and it was really driven by everybody wanting to be there and wanting to make something good, and that’s a really good energy to be around. You could pick up on that right from the beginning.
Paul: I will say one thing too, my father-in-law passed away during the shooting, and this whole team took the entire week of shooting that I had left to do, and we shot everything in one day so I could be there for my wife and kids. That was so impressive to me. This team was so competent to be like “Let’s go!” and we all jumped in, especially the camera. They were wrestling with a million things, but everyone jumped in and was a team player, and when I think back on this movie, I think back on that. It was an awful, sad time, but it was also an amazing time to see everyone just committed to do it together.
Is this the start of something new for you, Austin? Do you have more movies in you, perhaps a drawer full of scripts?
Austin: Oh, yeah.
Paul: What if he’d said “No”? [laughs]
Austin: One and done. “Hope you liked it; see you later.” I’m excited to keep going. I don’t really know what I’m doing; I’m still figuring it out. I’m not thinking I need to do another thing where I flip horror, but I think a lot of the ideas that are in this that have more of a political bend, those things will be present in future stuff.
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Source: https://www.slashfilm.com/slice-interview/
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